It seems of late that there have been a lot of more, shall we say, prosaic cars on CC? That’s all fine and good, and if you look at the top of the masthead, every car does indeed have a story. But damn it, some cars are just sexier, and there’s nothing like a little zest in your daily fare, no? So, here we go! Time to dive deep into the beauty of the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, in what may be my absolute ne plus ultra version of the sporting Chevys–a ’63 Coupe in red/red.

As the showroom brochure proclaimed, “Corvette steps out smartly with an exhilarating new look for ’63. A fresh look that promises to lift the spirits of any buff who takes the wheel.” Most of us have become inured to such marketing fluff, but in the case of the beautiful 1963 Corvette, they may have actually been downplaying it.

So, which 1963 GM automobile best exemplifies the classic Bill Mitchell look? The sporty ’63 Vette, or the luxurious but still sporty Buick Riviera? It’s a close match, but despite my deep, deep love of the original Riv (CC here), I think the split-window Corvette just barely nudges past the American Rolls-Royce. I mean, just look at it!

And, oh man, the colors on this one. Riverside Red, with fire engine red interior, in classic pleated vinyl. I love red/red cars, whether it is one of these, a 1980 Coupe de Ville, a 1970 ‘cuda or a ’68 AMX. Can I get a resounding “YES!” for the excellence of this color combination?

This car had it all. Beauty–such beauty!–independent suspension, capable power teams, available fuel injection, and the option of going topless. But as much as I am a fan of topless things–and not just cars–I have to tell you, if I had the means and the opportunity to sign on the dotted line for a ’63 example of America’s sports car, the car you see above is exactly what I would have gotten. A convertible is great, but this is one of those rare cases where the coupe looks better than the convertible. And the convertible is no slouch, mind!

The split window of the 1963 coupe was a clear example of Bill Mitchell’s form over function mentality. It is beautiful, but owners complained of limited rear visibility (oh, if those 1963 drivers could have gotten a gander of some 2014 models!) and so it was a one-year wonder. Indeed, many 1963 coupes were modified with ’64-’67 rear glazing–the horror! So, a small, approximately 1′ line of fiberglass can equal a healthy premium over an equivalent 1964 coupe. Crazy? Perhaps. But it’s so damn sexy.

And now, a slight digression, if you don’t mind. So many times, on so many websites, people mock and complain about red interiors on cars, especially if said car is, oh, I don’t know, a Brougham with opera windows and crushed velour. To wit: “Oh, I really don’t like the whorehouse red interiors, me not like, Mongo not like!” Well, red is a primary color, and it’s a pretty damn common color! Let’s see, fire engines, apples, fire chief’s cars, the Detroit Red Wings–they’re all red. But you never hear someone say, “Oh Bob, wearing that whorehouse red Red Wings shirt again?! Like, so unkewl!” Arrrgh! Okay, you get my point. Back to the car…

There are some cars that have classic lines, but let you down aesthetically when you slip behind the wheel. Not so in the 1963 Corvette. First off, a slim, classic three-spoke wheel with aluminum spokes and a color-keyed wheel. Ahead of it, a full complement of attractive gauges in a matte-black housing. Clock off to the right, and below it, a tres cool vertical radio. Could GM have been trying to give a Corvette touch to the 1980 X-body Citation when it included a vertical radio. If they did, it was a spectacular failure. The 1980 Citation is on a whole different constellation than this Corvette.

And under the hood? Classic small-block V8 goodness. The big blocks would come just a couple of model years later, but the SBC C2 Corvettes did just fine, thank you. And I prefer my C2 Corvette without the Hot Wheels-style side exhaust and big honkin’ hood scoop.

The current owners of this beauty helpfully had some spec sheets detailing the, well, details of this car. Options included Wonderbar radio, Positraction and whitewall tires. What price beauty? $4,599 in 1963.

I love it when fact sheets like this accompany the car. It is interesting to note that while a healthy dollop of 1963 Corvettes had the four-speed manual (a three-speed was standard), only 629 units had tinted glass. Well, who gives a flip about tinted glass when you’re ordering a new Corvette, for crying out loud!

And those wheels! I think this design has to be in the top five of all time best wheel designs. And I think it looks great paired with whitewall tires–yes, such things were done in America on a sports car in the early Sixties. A bit later they would be largely replaced with Goodyear Blue Streaks or the ever cool redlines.

Pretty much every car has compromises. Even a car like this Corvette may have a couple, but I can’t really think of any at the moment (drum brakes?-PN). But as far as I’m concerned, in aesthetic terms, there is not one–not one!–bad line on this car. From nose to tail, to interior, to wheel design and dimensions, the 1963 Corvette exudes excellence and beauty. Who wouldn’t love one?

At the Culver’s in West Davenport, there is an informal car cruise every Thursday between April and October. Everyone is welcome, whether they’re running a Broughamtastic Brougham, SVT Mustang, or a 1970 Dart. This vision in red appeared at one of them last July, and upon sigting it, I completely forgot about all the other cars there. It was only there once, but it was for the ages. Riverside Red Corvette, I salute you, and your most fortunate owners!

The show judges awarded the Ambien Award to the Corolla and the Harvey Firestone Memorial Trophy to the 2nd Gen Explorer. 🙂

Nice to see one of these actually driven and enjoyed by its owners rather than hauled around on a trailer for fear of ruining it’s “originality”. “Originality” as defined by Corvette people is the how the car appeared on the shipping lot at St. Louis Assembly prior to being loaded on the truck or rail car. Plastic on the seats, grease pencil marks on the windshield, you name it. This being a St. Louis-built car, a few pebbles in the tire treads are acceptable. Had this been a ’53 or a Bowling Green car, no pebbles allowed.

Ok, now go to the medicine cabinet and grab some blood pressure pills! 😛

Just kidding.
Can’t really fault you for going gaga over such a beauty.
I do agree, red interiors are just about the best looking ever.
My dad had a ’98 Boxster in silver with the Boxster red interior and I would just stare at it, it was so nice.

This Corvette is just gorgeous, and while my math skills are failing me in coming up with how rare this one is, the tinted glass alone would make it just one of 629, so quite rare.

I wish that split window design had stayed. Would have been cool for the C7 as rumored. Just drop one of those fancy rear view cameras and every car could have a split window.

I could just stare at it for days. Can’t find a fault, like you said. Everything, design wise, is at it should be. I really like that crease running in between the split window.
The interior still carries enough classiness (the satin metal plate) from the ’50s while also being very modern, love it.

That is one nice looking car. Coming from me that is saying a lot. While I like the 60’s Corvettes by 1970 on up I could care less about them. When at car shows I always steer clear of them, most are newer, all parked in an exclusive group. Always wondered if their owners really knew how to work on a car and actually did any mechanical work themselves.

The ’63 Corvette is interesting because, while not the best of the C2, it is so easily identifiable. Even the dumbest car dork can tell a ’63 coupe. It’s a bit more difficult to determine the year of the later ’64-’67 cars with the arguably better looking and more user friendly (but not as distinctive) one-piece rear window.

In addition, it’s worth noting all the hoopla that surrounded the unveiling of the 1963 Sting Ray. I wasn’t there but, from what I’ve read, it was one of the most highly anticipated autos, ever.

I am not an expert, but I consulted my Corvette books. The 64 no longer has the split rear window, but still does not have the vents behind the front wheels or look like the 63. The 65 gets three vents behind the front wheels and still has a vent behind the door windows. The 66 and 67 models no longer have the vents behind the door windows. The 67 vents behind the front wheels increase from 3 to several.

The origin of the split rear window goes back to the first Tatra 77 streamliner of 1933, which had a dorsal fin, and whose design influenced a huge number of subsequent cars thereafter, including the examples shown here, as well as the Volkswagen of 1936. The very first Tatra didn’t actually have any windows, but later ones did. But everyone jumped on the dorsal fin bandwagon, and it reappeared again on the Sting Ray.

Very nice ’63, and red/red is perfect for this car. Interesting note on the wheels, I had heard rumours that none ever came from the factory that way in ’63. The ’65-’67 cars were superior to the ’63-’64 cars in a number of ways but the split window is the iconic Sting Ray and always will be. Quite a bargain for what works out to maybe $35,000 today. I’ll bet they didn’t have to put any cash on the hood to move these back in ’63!

Let’s just say that being 10 in 1963 made this and the ’63 Riviera pretty much the highlight of my year. I obsessed on the Sting Ray fastback endlessly back in its day, all the way to 1967. And while the C3 ’68 Vette made a bit of a jolt, it was a short-lived one.

I tend to think very little was wrong about most ’65 offerings from anybody, but ’63 was a banner year at GM. I know you are an early Grand Prix fan, and I agree. Grand Prix, Riviera, Corvette – simply wonderful.

People talk about remembering where they were when JFK was assassinated, etc. I have a very clear memory of the first 63 Sting Ray fastback I saw in Fort Wayne, IN at age 13. That silver blue car was so stunning it seemed not to belong on the same streets with ordinary cars. Somewhere around here I have an AMT model of the Sting Ray fastback that I painted – you guessed it – red. Red on red cars were not that uncommon back in the day – I recall quite a few owned by friends and family, including a gorgeous little 62 Cutlass coupe that sticks in my memory. Thank you Tom, for this most enjoyable piece.

Pretty car. I read somewhere that Zora Arkus Duntov hated the split and was the main instigator of its demise. Not sure how true that is given Mitchell’s corporate heft. Maybe it was pressure from both outside and within.

I’m really into the Riviera, too – and almost everything else that rolled out of a GM factory in ’63, but there’s no doubt that this car was the absolute pinnacle of the American automobile. I think a strong argument could even be made for it being the best car in the world at the time, but I don’t really have the energy to make it right now.

The C2 Vette is another car where I can’t pick what year is my favorite. It’s between ’63-’65 for me because I’d want the fuel-injected 327/wide-ratio 4-speed rather than the big blocks. The split window and knock-offs are so cool, but I like the colors that were available later on (all those metallic blues that look so classic on mid-60s Chevys with red line tires) and they got disc brakes in ’65. This is total fantasy, because I will never, ever be able to afford one of them.

Like someone else said up above, as much as I’m batshit crazy for early Corvettes, I have next to zero interest in them from the mid-70s onwards. I had the chance to work at a really cool Corvette shop once when I was younger and blew it because I expressed this sentiment on the interview, haha. Honesty is the worst policy!

The world we live in right now is a much better one than what existed 50 years ago in so many ways, but who doesn’t wish we could have held onto a little bit of the culture that the Stingray epitomized? At least in the automotive realm. Detroit is building many great cars once again, but we’ve still never recaptured this kind of magic. Will we ever? I wouldn’t bet on it, but I hope so.

“And now, a slight digression, if you don’t mind. So many times, on so many websites, people mock and complain about red interiors on cars, especially if said car is, oh, I don’t know, a Brougham with opera windows and crushed velour. To wit: “Oh, I really don’t like the whorehouse red interiors, me not like, Mongo not like!” Well, red is a primary color, and it’s a pretty damn common color! Let’s see, fire engines, apples, fire chief’s cars, the Detroit Red Wings–they’re all red. But you never hear someone say, “Oh Bob, wearing that whorehouse red Red Wings shirt again?! Like, so unkewl!” Arrrgh! Okay, you get my point.”

My favorite Vettes are the 1958-59 models, but this would be my second favorite. When this car was made, it was popular to have interiors that matched the exterior colour. The red on red certainly looks good to me. My favorite paint colour for these ‘Vettes is Milano Maroon, but I think they look good in any of the factory colours.